Istanbul - Basilica Cistern

This morning’s travel agenda was to visit the Basilica Cistern. It opened at 9 a.m., so we made sure we were in the pre-purchased ticket line by 8:45 a.m. There were only a handful of people in front of us, but many more in the queue to purchase tickets. We had seen that line four times longer yesterday afternoon.

Info from Wikipedia:

(Wiki Link)

“The enlarged cistern provided a water filtration system for the Great Palace of Constantinople and other buildings on the First Hill, and continued to provide water to the Topkapı Palace after the Ottoman conquest in 1453 and into modern times.

The existence of the cistern was eventually forgotten by all but the locals who still drew water from it until, in 1565, the French traveller Petrus Gyllius left a record of it. Gyllius recorded being rowed between the columns and seeing fish swimming in the water beneath the boat.”

We descended a set of metal stairs into the bottom of the cistern. We expected it to be large—and it was—something like 135 m long and about half that wide. The dozens of columns make it look more like a temple. It’s called the Basilica Cistern because a basilica once stood above it. It was built between the 3rd and 4th centuries and reconstructed after a fire in 476AD.

The whole area is lit with coloured lights that slowly cycle from white to green and red, which makes the space look even more impressive—and probably helps justify the €55 (~NZ $110) entry price per couple. 😉

We spent about 50 minutes wandering around taking photos and video. Seeing the colours change and viewing the Medusa’s head and its shadow were highlights. But we left feeling it was on the expensive side of experiences. Many people would have only been there 40 minutes or less. Judging by the number of visitors, it must bring in a lot of money.

It looks like it’s going to turn into another wet day, as per the forecast. It was just starting to spit with rain as we headed across the Hippodrome back to the apartment.

We had lunch sorted with leftovers and bits and pieces we had in the fridge. Later in the afternoon, we needed to go shopping for dinner—a combined butchery, airport bus-stop check, and supermarket walk. We were glad we grabbed the umbrellas, as it was soon raining steadily.

Macaroni cheese and bread for dinner tonight, with grapes and nectarines for dessert. 👍 We’ll save the butchery beef mince for tomorrow night.